1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of remote controls. More particularly, the invention pertains to remote controls for portable media devices, including, but not limited to, MP3 players.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable media devices have become an increasingly popular method for consumers to store and playback their personal media collections. The growth in the number of digital audio and video players in the consumer market has created a need for accessories which allow the consumer to choose how they access and experience their media collection.
In general, a personal computer is required to manage and develop a database of media content that can then be transferred to a portable media device. The media content on these portable media devices can then be played back directly on the media device itself or through an external playback system, such as a home theatre unit, via a docking station or other intermediate connection.
The more sophisticated docking stations have multiple video/audio output connectors to couple with an external playback system. While composite and S-video connectors for video, and RCA connectors for audio, are the most commonly used types of connectors, the connectors can be of any standard or non-standard communication link. Most docking stations are capable of recharging the portable media device when it is docked. Some docking stations have a microchip/microprocessor and internal cache memory and/or RAM in order to access, download and operate on the data from a docked portable media device, typically using the application software provided by the media device itself.
The docking stations are often supplied with a remote control to give a degree of portability back to the user once the portable media device is docked. The range of remote controls supplied with the different docking stations varies in both capability and functionality. The more advanced remotes have an LCD to give the user the capability to better navigate and manipulate the media content on the portable media devices. Either IR or RF is used for wireless communication between the remote and the docking station.
The navigation and presentation of the data on these portable media devices is an integral and important feature. The more advanced remote controls with the LCD interface present the data from the docked portable media player in one of two ways: either by using proprietary software for navigating the media content or by replicating the portable media device's interface and presenting it to the user. In either case, the data is presented in a hierarchical manner as a means of navigating through the media content. The navigation and playback of the media content can be performed either by the remote control and/or the docking station. In most cases, a portion of the data content is downloaded to either the docking station or the remote control prior to data navigation.
The current state-of-the-art remote control systems for the iPod® media device and other MP3 players are limited to playback options of the song database on the MP3 player, for example skip to the next song, pause, play, rewind to the last song etc. The most advanced remote solutions implement the database manipulation strategy of the MP3 player. As an example, the iPod® media device includes software and serial communication hardware to allow third party control of the iPod® electronic device, by extension, a remote with an LCD screen can accurately represent the user interface of the iPod® media device. A disadvantage of this method is that, in order to maintain playback control while simultaneously providing the capability of navigating through the database, the serial communication interface must be used. This causes delays in the presentation of the data due to the limited baud rate of the serial interface.
A further limitation of current advanced remote devices and media devices in general is that the hierarchical menu scheme limits potential associative connections that the user may identify between various media entries and their associated metadata as listed in the hierarchical tree structure. Further, on portable devices, the user is limited to moving through the media entries with a limited presentation of the hierarchical menu scheme, which may result in no associative connections between the various media entries.
There is also a lack of capability for true data manipulation; to modify (ie add/delete media entries), moving the entries up or down in a playback list, renaming of data entries/playback lists, or reordering data entries in a non-alphanumeric scheme.
There is a need in the art for a remote control data management system that is able to download and present the metadata, without being limited to the capabilities of the media player. Also, there is a need in the art for a system that presents metadata or information content of the entries of a database (for example song entries) to the user in such a manner that associative connections between the various entries are promoted. In addition, the capability of true data manipulation/management and retaining the metadata once communication is terminated with the media device is needed.